• Knowing the True God—What Does It Mean?
    Will There Ever Be a World Without War?
    • Ancient synagogue floor in Tiberias, Israel

      This ancient synagogue floor in Tiberias, Israel, is just one example of the extent to which Greek thought and culture influenced Judaism. Notice the signs of the zodiac with their names written in Hebrew. The figure in the center is the sun-​god Helios

      While the Canaanite and Babylonian cultures left their mark, by far the greatest challenge ever to face Judaism came during the period of Hellenization by the Greek Empire.b Summing up this prolonged period of Greek cultural influence, extending from the fourth century B.C.E. well into the early centuries of the Common Era, the Jewish author Max Dimont remarked: “Enriched with Platonic thought, Aristotelian logic, and Euclidian science, Jewish scholars approached the Torah with new tools. . . . They proceeded to add Greek reason to Jewish revelation.”

      Does Man Have an Immortal Soul?

      15-17. (a) What does the Bible teach about death and the soul? (See the box “Death and the Soul—What Are They?”) (b) What hope does the Bible hold out for those who have died?

      15 Were Judaism’s doctrines and religious beliefs influenced during this period? The Encyclopaedia Judaica frankly admits: “It was probably under Greek influence that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul came into Judaism.”8

  • Knowing the True God—What Does It Mean?
    Will There Ever Be a World Without War?

    • b From the time of Alexander the Great’s rule (336-323 B.C.E.), the Greeks made a concerted effort to spread their philosophy, culture, and language to all lands encompassed by the Greek Empire. Those who adopted Greek culture and thought were considered Hellenized. This effort to win other cultures over to that of Greece was perpetuated under the Roman Empire, which, although having conquered Greece, found its culture and philosophy appealing. Even among many of those who ostensibly fought diligently to resist this tidal wave of Greek influence, we find clear evidence of their adopting Greek philosophical ideas, reasonings, and doctrines.